New job, new habits? A multilevel interrupted time series analysis of changes in diet, physical activity and sleep among young adults starting work for the first time
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background The workplace is an important determinant of health that people are exposed to for the first-time
during adolescence or early adulthood. This study investigates how diet, physical activity, and sleep change as people
aged 16–30 years transition into work and whether this varies for different individuals and job types.
Methods Multilevel linear regression models assessed changes in fruit and vegetable intake, sleep duration,
and physical activity among 3,302 UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) participants aged 16–30 years,
who started work for the first time between 2015 and 2023. In line with interrupted time series analysis, models
assessed behavioural trends in the period before starting work, the immediate effect of starting work, and changes
in behaviour over time after employment. Stratified analyses examined differences by selected individual and job
characteristics, adjusted for covariates. All analyses were conducted in R v.4.3.2.
Results Sleep duration was stable over the years before and after starting work, but starting work was associated
with an immediate reduction in sleep duration (β = -9.74 [95% CI:-17.32 to -2.17 min/night). Physical activity,
measured in Metabolic Equivalent Tasks (METs), increased immediately after starting work (β=113.3, [95% CI: 80.49 to
146.11] MET-min/day), but subsequently decreased over time after starting work (β= -26.7, [95% CI: -40.75 to -12.66]
MET-min/day/year). The increase in physical activity was greater among males, among those with no degree and
among those starting lower socioeconomic classification jobs. Starting a “work from home” job had an immediate
negative effect on physical activity (β= -126.42 [95% CI: -264.45 to 11.61] MET-min/day), whereas those who worked at
their employer’s premises showed an initial increase (β=128.81 [95% CI: 89.46 to 168.16] MET-min/day). Starting work
had little influence on fruit and vegetable consumption.
Conclusions This is the first study to examine how diet, physical activity, and sleep in young adults change as they
start employment in the UK. Starting work is associated with decreased sleep time and increased physical activity, with differences based on sociodemographic and job characteristics. Future research should consider these potential
influences of the work environment when developing interventions to promote healthy behaviour in the workplace.
during adolescence or early adulthood. This study investigates how diet, physical activity, and sleep change as people
aged 16–30 years transition into work and whether this varies for different individuals and job types.
Methods Multilevel linear regression models assessed changes in fruit and vegetable intake, sleep duration,
and physical activity among 3,302 UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) participants aged 16–30 years,
who started work for the first time between 2015 and 2023. In line with interrupted time series analysis, models
assessed behavioural trends in the period before starting work, the immediate effect of starting work, and changes
in behaviour over time after employment. Stratified analyses examined differences by selected individual and job
characteristics, adjusted for covariates. All analyses were conducted in R v.4.3.2.
Results Sleep duration was stable over the years before and after starting work, but starting work was associated
with an immediate reduction in sleep duration (β = -9.74 [95% CI:-17.32 to -2.17 min/night). Physical activity,
measured in Metabolic Equivalent Tasks (METs), increased immediately after starting work (β=113.3, [95% CI: 80.49 to
146.11] MET-min/day), but subsequently decreased over time after starting work (β= -26.7, [95% CI: -40.75 to -12.66]
MET-min/day/year). The increase in physical activity was greater among males, among those with no degree and
among those starting lower socioeconomic classification jobs. Starting a “work from home” job had an immediate
negative effect on physical activity (β= -126.42 [95% CI: -264.45 to 11.61] MET-min/day), whereas those who worked at
their employer’s premises showed an initial increase (β=128.81 [95% CI: 89.46 to 168.16] MET-min/day). Starting work
had little influence on fruit and vegetable consumption.
Conclusions This is the first study to examine how diet, physical activity, and sleep in young adults change as they
start employment in the UK. Starting work is associated with decreased sleep time and increased physical activity, with differences based on sociodemographic and job characteristics. Future research should consider these potential
influences of the work environment when developing interventions to promote healthy behaviour in the workplace.
Date Issued
2025-01-28
Date Acceptance
2024-11-05
Citation
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2025, 22
ISSN
1479-5868
Publisher
BMC
Journal / Book Title
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
Volume
22
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39871260
PII: 10.1186/s12966-024-01682-8
Subjects
Early adulthood
Employment
Life transitions
Humans
Male
Sleep
Exercise
Female
Adult
Young Adult
Adolescent
Diet
Longitudinal Studies
Interrupted Time Series Analysis
Fruit
Vegetables
United Kingdom
Workplace
Employment
Multilevel Analysis
Health Behavior
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Article Number
10
Date Publish Online
2025-01-28